Maria Laura Avignolo
03/04/2021 12:40
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 03/04/2021 12:40
The Sussex War and Buckingham Palace is like its worst days with Princess Diana.
Four days after the interview between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Oprah Winfrey was released about the reasons they left Britain and a day before the new CBS publicity clip promoting her, former Meghan Markle employees denounced her for bullying. in the respected newspaper The Times.
Buckingham Palace first announced that it would
investigate the allegations
"to learn from that lesson."
All the Sussex staff will speak, except for Prince Harry and his wife, who employed them and will not have the right to defense.
CBS used Meghan's voice to respond, with a new clip, to the
palace's accusations
.
In her own voice, during the 30-second clip Meghan, the Duchess, says that she is not afraid of the consequences of speaking, before adding that
"a lot has already been lost
.
"
Winfrey asks Meghan, "How do you feel about the Palace hearing you speak your truth today?"
She responds: "I don't know how they could expect that, after all this time, we will remain silent if
there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating the falsehoods about us
." And, if that carries the risk of losing things, I want to I mean, I ... there's a lot that's already been lost, "Meghan said.
The rematch of "La Firma"
The Firm is what the Royals call the Royal Family and "more lost" means that the Sussexes could lose the title of His Royal Highness (HRH) - as they did with Princess Diana with her divorce from Prince Charles -, that they They have agreed not to use when working independently of the family.
CBS has shared the clip, after Buckingham Palace said it had launched an investigation into allegations that the Duchess
intimidated former royal staff
.
Meghan and Harry will not be part of the process and it is understood that the palace hopes to begin the investigation soon.
Palace employees accuse Meghan Markle of harassment and mistreatment.
AP Photo
The
unprecedented investigation
was launched hours after The Times published that Jason Knauf, Meghan's former head of communications, expressed concern about the stress that the Duchess placed on Samantha Cohen, the adviser that Queen Elizabeth II had given to her to
adapt to the customs of the kingdom
and two other employees.
Buckingham Palace is investigating allegations of intimidation by Meghan.
Former and current employees will be invited to speak confidently about their "work experiences" for Meghan, after it was alleged that she expelled two personal assistants and that
staff were "humiliated"
on several occasions.
The Times newspaper reported that the Duchess "destroyed" one staff member and another was left in tears before leaving.
There has long been speculation about the atmosphere in the Sussex home, after several members of the staff left.
Victims of a dirty campaign
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have said they are
"victims of a calculated smear campaign"
following the accusations.
The couple's lawyers assured that the accusations are based on "erroneous, misleading and harmful information."
They also said that Harry and Meghan believed the staff were comfortable and happy.
However, Jason Knauf, the former communications secretary for the Sussexes, filed a
bullying complaint
in October 2018, in an apparent attempt to force Buckingham Palace to protect staff.
One source suggested that the attitude towards the allegations was more about making them "go away" rather than "addressing them."
The Times reported
Knauf's complaint never advanced
.
Knauf wrote that the Duchess "was undermining the trust of two of her personal assistants and a third," who was her private secretary, Samantha Cohen.
But the investigation progressed.
The duchess's lawyers have denied these allegations.
Harry and Meghan, in the interview with Oprah in the United States.
Photo Joe Pugliese / Harpo Productions via AP)
Knauf sent the email to Simon Case, then the private secretary of William, the Duke of Cambridge, and today the cabinet secretary of Boris Johnson, the British prime minister.
He had previously passed it on to Clarence House, the official residence of Prince Charles, the future British King and Harry's father.
The Times chronicled what it describes as "turmoil" within the palace walls.
They claim that multiple sources said
Meghan wanted to be a "victim"
so that her "excruciating experience" would convince Harry that they had to leave the UK, something her lawyers have denied.
The investigation
After the announcement of the palace investigation, one of the sources revealed that the protagonists feel
liberated from being able to tell the truth
.
”It has not been easy, but we have welcomed it and it has been too long.
We do not have to remain silent any more ”, they maintained.
They insisted on the complaint because nothing had been done about bullying by a member of the British royal family.
"The institution constantly protected Meghan," said one of the protagonists.
"All the men in gray that she hates have a lot to answer for because they did absolutely nothing to protect the people who worked there," they argued.
Other times.
Harry, Meghan and the royal family, in March of last year.
AP Photo
The investigation was the result of a long conversation between Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace - where Prince William is based - and Clarence House, the home of Prince Charles.
Officials there considered that a
public position
should be taken
in
front of the victims of bullying while others recommended greater caution, just when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were going to tell their version of events on CBS and are going to target the palace.
Meghan and Harry's voice
All the American press reported the case.
A spokesperson for Meghan and Harry said the Duke and Duchess describe The Times report as "a calculated smear campaign, based on misleading, misleading and damaging information."
“We are
disappointed
to see this defamatory portrait of the Duchess of Sussex giving her credibility in a media outlet.
It is not a coincidence that these distorted 7-year accusations, which seek to undermine the Duchess, are
scoffed
at the British press before the Duke and Duchess speak honestly and openly about their experience in recent years, "said the spokesman.
The Duchess
won a privacy lawsuit
against The Mail on Sunday, one of Britain's best-selling tabloids, and discredited her reporting.
Now she demands that she publish for six years that she won the trial, in her online publication, and that the online publication of the letter from her father Thomas Markle that produced the trial be returned and destroyed, because it is hers.
The search for a prestigious newspaper to publish the attacks on the Sussexes is a
change in the palace's strategy
, after years of maintaining a "relationship of mutual necessity" with the tabloids.
In a letter, the Sussex lawyers argue in front of The Times that it "has been used by Buckingham Palace to
sell a false narrative
prior to the couple's interview with Oprah Winfrey."
The palace responded that “it is absolutely not true that the palace sells information or conducts any kind of campaign prior to the interview.
The Palace is not involved.
Clearly this is not coming from us ”.
The dukes with their son, Archie, in 2019. Photo EFE
In Britain now everyone mentions the war between the Palace and the Sussexes as before was that of Princess Diana with "the gray men of the palace".
A
harmful and dangerous game
for the stability of a House of Windsor, weakened by the Megxit scandal, that of Prince Andrew, a nine-year-old queen, a hyper-reduced family for their official jobs and the illness of
Prince Philip
, who underwent surgery on Wednesday of the heart and they just reported it this Thursday.
Buckingham Palace said: "The Duke of Edinburgh underwent a successful procedure yesterday for a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew's Hospital in the British City. His Royal Highness will remain in the hospital for treatment, rest and recovery during several days".
They did not specify the ailment, but Felipe had a previous infection.
The Duke of Edinburgh, who will turn 100 in June, is being treated at St Bartholomew Hospital in London.
He was taken there by ambulance from King Edward VII Hospital on Monday.
Philip,
the nation's longest-serving consort
, has spent 16 nights in the hospital, his longest stay.
He was initially admitted to King Edward VII Private Hospital on February 16 as a precaution after feeling unwell.
The exact reason for his initial admission was not revealed, but it was not related to the coronavirus.
Four days later, he was visited by his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, who made a 200-mile round trip and stayed for about 30 minutes.
He explained the decision to
withdraw the honorary titles
of the regiments that Prince Philip had granted to Prince Harry.
The Duke lives alone in a Sandringham Palace lodge with his valet.
During the pandemic he has spent most of the lockdown residing at Windsor Castle with the Queen, for her safety, along with a small family of staff nicknamed "HMS Bubble."
London. Correspondent
ACE
Look also
Prince Philip of England was successfully operated on the heart
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry: past and present traumas that defined their estrangement from the crown